GM was freed from government ownership, and Mary Barra was promoted to be the automaker’s CEO. Vehicle sales continued a hot streak, and metro Detroit home prices continued their rebound. Billionaire Dan Gilbert bought more downtown buildings, the Red Wings announced plans for a new downtown arena district and Peter Karmanos, cofounder of Compuware, openly feuded with management over the firm’s future.

How this story plays out has serious implications for real estate development, the municipal bond investment community, personal budgets of many pensioners likely to see cuts, the strength of organized labor, small-business contracts, among others, that were canceled, suspended or altered, the tourism dollars potentially lost if city assets, such as museum paintings, are sold off.

It goes on and on like ripples running out from the center, affecting hundreds of thousands, even millions of people and billions of dollars.

Federal bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes ruled Dec. 3 that the city is eligible for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection and reorganization. Now, everyone is waiting for the “Plan of Adjustment,” Detroit emergency manger Kevyn Orr’s blueprint for future city services and shedding debt.

Rhodes summed up the magnitude of this story well on Dec. 3: “This once-proud city cannot pay its debts,” the judge said. “At the same time, it has an opportunity for a fresh start. I hope that everybody associated with the city will recognize that opportunity.”

This evolving story since GM’s exit from bankruptcy in July 2009 took on new meaning this year as GM’s lineup, once maligned as mediocre and uninventive, won record accolades for design and quality. Its 60th anniversary Corvette Stingray, the Free Press car of the year, is on most critics’ Top 5 lists for its style and quality, and truck sales just keep booming.

Some taxpayers might groan at the $10.5-billion investment loss, but others might take heart from a Center for Automotive Research study this month that estimates by rescuing GM and Chrysler, the government “saved or avoided the loss of” $105 billion in taxes and social services expenses over two years, including unemployment insurance and food stamps.

The wisdom of the bailouts will be debated forever, but there’s no doubting GM is back.

Mary Barra’s historic promotion to CEO this month made her the first female chief executive of a major auto company. The move was praised as a victory for gender equality in corporate glass offices. But most auto insiders knew Barra was on the short list, having worked her way up from the factory floor to multiple and varied executive positions. As an engineer with a background in product development, Barra is part of a new breed of engineer executives at GM.

There hasn’t been a much bigger development story recently than the plan for a $650-million hockey arena complex that would be the new home for the Red Wings, and include retail and other mixed-use and also involve the redevelopment of a 45-block area, including once-infamous Cass Corridor.

The new district will sit on the west side of Woodward just north of where I-75 crosses the northern edge of downtown, providing some connective tissue to Greektown, Ford Field and the Campus Martius areas. The Wings could begin playing there as early as the 2016-17 season.

It is to be built with a mix of public and private funds. Bonds will be sold by the state, and the extra property tax generated by the new arena district will pay them back. Olympia Development of Michigan, an Ilitch company, also will pay $11.5 million a year until the bonds are paid off. No money from the city’s general fund will be used for the project.

Americans returned to auto dealers, with the final tally at about 15.6 million new cars and trucks in 2013, the most since the pre-recession days of 2007.

And for the Detroit Three, times are even better now than in 2007. Relatively low gas prices combined with the pent-up demand for pickups, and truck sales soared in 2013. Chrysler and General Motors capitalized on that trend with the redesigned Dodge, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC pickups. The pickup boom is expected to continue next year just as Ford launches its all-new F-150, General Motors prepares to launch two all-new midsize trucks and Chrysler adds a diesel engine to its Ram 1500 lineup.

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But it wasn’t all about trucks for the Detroit Three in 2013. General Motors launched a number of new cars — including the Chevrolet Corvette — that were praised by critics and customers while the all-new Ford Fusion hit its stride. Chrysler’s Jeep Cherokee, launched several months late, hit the ground running with more than 10,000 sold in its first month.

6. Dan Gilbert buys Greektown Casino, other downtown Detroit properties as he becomes a player in blight removal

In September, Gilbert was appointed as one of three co-chairs of a new Blight Removal Task Force that is working to develop a plan that would deal with all 78,000 or so abandoned and decayed structures within the city of Detroit.

It was a year of intrigue, drama and even comedy for the old Packard Plant on Detroit’s east side, which has become a globally known symbol for industrial decay. Wayne County foreclosed on the 40 acres for unpaid taxes and offered the site up at public auction in the fall.

A frenzied round of bidding that started at just $21,000 ended up with a Texas doctor bidding $6 million and promising to “resurrect Detroit.” But she and the second-place bidder couldn’t produce the money and the property went to Peru-based developer Fernando Palazuelo, who made a $405,000 payment and plans to begin work in 2014 on his 10- to 15-year vision to preserve some of the factory and redevelop the site with light industrial, commercial and residential.

The largest technology firm in Michigan, Compuware, spent 2013 under a cloud of uncertainty after its board of directors in January rejected a hedge fund’s takeover bid, but announced they would entertain any future offers for the right price. Speculation swirled about possible deals, with the latest reports hinting at possible merger-and-acquisition action in early 2014.

Compuware cofounder Peter Karmanos Jr. stepped down as board chairman at the end of March.

After Karmanos issued a profanity-laced criticism against Compuware’s management in the fall, the company canceled his $600,000-a-year consulting contract. Karmanos sued the company he founded 40 years ago to recoup lucrative stock options.

In one of the most prolonged and awkward CEO flirtations in a long time, reports began before Labor Day that Microsoft was courting Ford CEO Alan Mulally. As the calendar turns to 2014, the matter is still not resolved. Mulally and his Ford colleagues have repeated a non-denial denial that “I love serving Ford” and “There’s no change in the plan” for him to remain in the driver’s seat in Dearborn through the end of 2014.

Meanwhile, Ford CEO-in-waiting, Mark Fields, has taken on many of the top responsibilities whether or not he has the title.

Home sale prices in suburban Detroit continued the recovery that began in 2012. Median sales prices in Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties were 20% to more than 30% higher year-over-year and, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, prices in the region are back to levels last seen in spring 2008.

Real estate agents say the tight inventory of move-in-ready homes on the market is the chief factor driving prices higher.